Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year
1870, by
WM. L. HILDEBURN, TneAnRBn,
in trust for the
PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania.

WESTCOT & THOMISON,
Stereotypers, Philada.

COLIGNI.

SHAVE told you of many
good people who were
scholars, teachers, minis-
ters, priests and queens. I
am now to write you about a
good and brave soldier. This
soldier was a noble French-
man. You have been reading
so many little books about
5

6 COLIGNI.

pious French men and women
that perhaps you will think
all the good people grow in
France! There are a great
many there, I hope, yet that
is not the only land where
they are to be found.
You may have heard boys
telling how bold and brave
they are, yet you do not know
if they are truly as brave as
they say until they have been
tried.- Trial brings out truth.

COLIGNI. 7

Now, the reason the bright-
ness and goodness of so many
French people shone out is
that in France the Church has
been much tried.
France, your Geography will
tell you, is a Catholic country
-a Roman Catholic country.
It has been such for many
hundred years. France has
been ruled by priests, who set
themselves against the Re-
formed Church, against the

8 COL1GNI.

pure Protestant faith. I know
all the children who read these
books are Protestants. You
may be Baptists or Methodists
or Episcopalians or Presbyte-
rians, or, as a little boy of my
acquaintance said, Episco-
terians," but you are Protest-
ants; and I want you to thank
God for that and hold fast
to it.
I have written to you of
some priests who loved God

COLIGNI. 9

and read their Bibles and
came rejoicingly into the Re-
formed Church, but many of
them did all they could to hurt
and kill the Reformers. In
France, through the lovely
valleys and the bold high
mountains, God's dear people
have been driven like wild
beasts, and used so badly that
it would make your hearts
ache even to hear of it. But
this very cruelty brought out

10 COLIGNI.

the brave, true men, and show-
ed them to the world in all
their goodness and beauty.
These persecutions set forth in
a clear light these men and
women of the early French
Church, which the world has
loved and honored ever since.
As to that long word "perse-
cutions," I am going to use it
a good many times, so I hope
you will find out what it
means.

COLIGNI. 11

The Bible uses "tempta-
tion" for "persecution" some-
times, and says, Blessed is
that man that endureth temp-
tation, for when he is tried he
shall receive the crown of life
which the Lord hath promised
to them that love him."
These crowns of life have
been given to many noble souls
out of the French Church.
These French Protestants were
called "Waldenses" and Hu-

12 COLIGNI.

guenots." I hope you will ex-
cuse the long words. They were
a brave and simple, God-loving
people, and the priests treated
them with the greatest cruelty,
killing mothers and children,
and even little babies.
The histories of these dear
people have been written in
books. I remember my grand-
father sent me one when I was
about as old as some of my
smallest readers. I used to

COLIGNI. 13

like to read it, for all it made
me very angry, and was so
heart-breaking that when I
got out my book for a good
read I always got my pocket-
handkerchief at the same
time!
These poor French Protest-
ant churches needed some one
to defend them- some one
pious, brave, rich, noble and
powerful. God sent them just
such a defender when he sent

14 COLIGNI.

into the world Gaspard de
Coligni.
Gaspard was born at Cha-
tillon, on the Loing. He was
one of three brothers-broth-
ers who always loved and
helped each other and never
quarreled. I wish that could
be said for all little brothers.
These three brave brothers
had a dear, kind mother; they
lived with her in a chateau-
an ancient house like a castle.

COLIGNT. 15

The family were much loved
by the poor people who lived
on their land.
The names of these brothers
were Odet, Gaspard and Fran-
cis. In those countries the
eldest son gets the house and
the lands. Odet was the old-
est, so he was to have these,
and Gaspard must be a priest
and Francis a lawyer. But
Gaspard said that he must be
a soldier; he should die if he

16 COLIGNI.

were made a priest. He said
he never would look in a book
again if he should be made a
priest.
Odet loved his brother. He
was of a quiet nature and
loved books, so he said he
would give the house and
lands to Gaspard, and that
Gaspard might be a soldier
and Odet himself would go
into the Church. Do you not
think Odet loved his brother

COLIGNI. 17

when he gave up so much for
him?
The Coligni family had
always been Roman Catholics,
but Louisa, the mother of these
three boys, had seen and heard
some of the Reformed preach-
ers, and she liked their teach-
ing and taught it to her sons.
When teachers were chosen
for the young Colignis, they
were men who inclined to the
Reformed Church, who read
2

18 COLIGNI.

their Bibles and tried to serve
God.
You will think I do not say
much about the father of our
three brothers. He was a
very brave soldier, but he died
of a fever when Gaspard was
only a little more than five
years old.
But even at this early age
little Gaspard had made his
father very proud by showing
his love for soldiers. The boy

COLIGNI. 19

had a square board and a
number of soldiers made of
ivory. He would put on a
cocked hat, a toy sword, and
take a little drum, and then
he would march his ivory sol-
diers up and down and play
at battles and war and taking
forts and towns, having play
over all the acts which when
he grew to be a man were so-
ber, earnest and hard, sad
work.

20 COLIGNI.

When Gaspard was five
years old he went one day
with his father to review some
troops of soldiers. One tall
soldier pleased the little fellow
very much. Gaspard saw that
the man was brave and knew
what he was about. Some
fine swords were lying near
by, and Gaspard took up one,
and walking up to the man
with a grand air, said,
"Take this sword, sir. I

COLIGNI. 21

shall reward every one who
does his duty."
His father was so pleased
at this speech that he ran and
caught the child in his arms
and kissed him, crying out,
"You will make a great
man, my Gaspard!"
There were some cannon
near, and some one said,
"If this little boy is brave
he will fire a cannon!"
The great gun was loaded

22 COLIGNI.

and the long match given to
Gaspard. He took it, saying,
"I am brave!"
But he was only five years
old, and had never seen one
of these great guns near at
hand. He drew back a little.
The soldiers began to laugh.
Gaspard's cheeks grew red.
He cried out,
Ho! you men! do you think
I am afraid?" and at once he
fired the cannon.

COLIGNI. 23

His father could not talk
enough of his brave little son.
He praised him to all his
friends.
It is sad to think of this
brave, kind father going from
his dear home, his wife and
his little sons, and being sick
and dying far away. The last
word of the father was about
his boys. He said their uncle
and their mother must take
good care of them.

24 COLIGNI.

The mother and the uncle
tried to do their duty, and, as
I told you, they thought Gas-
pard should be a priest and
have a great deal of money
and power. But Gaspard,
who was now growing up, did
not like this idea; he wept
and said he must be a soldier.
Here the kind brother Odet
came to help, and said he did
not care-he would be a priest
instead of Gaspard.

COLIGNI. 25

As for Francis, he was a
good-natured little lad, and he
did not care what they did
with him so that he had his
brothers and all that he want-
ed to eat.
The brothers had a happy
home and a kind, wise teacher.
We are told that they were
"obedient, brave, truthful and
temperate."
When Odet had become a
priest his uncle thought he

26 COLIGNI.

deserved a reward, and so, as
he had a great deal of money
and power, he got the pope to
make Odet a cardinal.
A cardinal is a very high
priest one who has great
wealth and much influence.
Priests are very proud of get-
ting to be cardinals, and while
there are very many priests,
there are few cardinals. When
the pope makes a priest a car-
dinal he sends him a red hat.

COLIGNI. 27

A red hat, therefore, was sent
to Odet.
Odet was a good man. We
read of him, "Even his ene-
mies must admire him, his
face was so frank, his heart so
open, his way so gentle, his
tongue so pure, and he was
never rude to any one. He
was wise, sober and generous."
The love of these three
brothers was remarked by all.
One of their friends said,

28 COLIGNI.

"They are a fine example to
brothers of all ages, and for
our age, when brothers often
show more hate than love."
When Gaspard was eighteen
years old his mother sent him
to Paris to go to college. His
brother Francis went with
him. In college Gaspard was
called the model of diligence
and morality. He was neither
idle nor vicious. Gaspard got
into one quarrel while at col-

COLIGNI. 29

lege. He tried to defend one
of the teachers with whom
some rude lads were fighting.
In the fight Coligni had like
to have been killed, but before
long we find him begging the
college teachers not to expel
the men who had injured him.
When Gaspard was very
young his uncle took him to
court to see the king. Gas-
pard's mother was at court
too. She was a friend to

30 COLIGNI.

Queen Margaret of Navarre,
and had the care of Jeanne,
Margaret's little girl.
Gaspard became a great
friend to King Francis. When
the king went to ride or to
hunt he rode near him, and
for his bravery he was given
many rewards.
One person at the court be-
came the great foe of Coligni.
She was Catharine, afterward
queen for many years. She

The Bambino.
Coigni. See page 52.
31

32 COLIGNI.

was a bad woman, but when
Coligni first went to court she
was young and had no power.
She had enemies, and they
were cruel to her, and Coligni
took her part and tried to be
kind to her. When she came
into power she forgot all this,
and hated him, and at last
killed him.
When Gaspard went to war
he was very brave. He was
in battles and wars nearly all

COLIGNI. 33

his life, and became one of the
greatest generals. The first
time he was wounded a mus-
ket-ball passed through his
hat and cut his head.
Guise you remember a
Guise was son-in-law to Re-
nee-stood by, and said, Oh,
Coligni, are you wounded?"
"I think I am," replied
Gaspard, very coolly.
"Oh dear! oh dear! how
terrible this is!" cried Guise,
3

.34 COLIGNI.

who had never been in battle
before.
'Then, in the midst of the
lbitll:., Coligni found time to
say great words. He said,
"We ought ever to be ready
to die. We are always in
danger. We should be pre-
pared to meet death. That,
friend Guise, is the great busi-
ness of life !"
The king now began to per-
secute the Reformed Church,

COLIGNI. 35

-which they called Lutherans,
Waldenses or Huguenots, and
had many killed.
At court, Louisa, the mother
of the three Coligni brothers,
left the Catholic Church and
turned Protestant. She was
taken ill, and would not see a
priest, but had her Bible read
and died very happy. She
said she knew her sons would
become Protestants, and so
they did after a while..

36 COLIGNI.

Gaspard Coligni became a
Protestant, he married a Prot-
estant, and from that time he
gave help and protection to
the persecuted and despised
Church of the Reformers. He
stood before them like a wall.
Any injury toward them must
touch him first; and people
often dared not attack a
church which was dear to Co-
ligni, the most famous man in
France.

COLIGNI. 37

As a general, Coligni show-
ed how one can be a Christian
soldier and follow religion in
a camp. He allowed no fight-
ing and no swearing in his
camp.
Coligni was made Admiral
of France: that is a very high
title.
You must not think the life
of Coligni was all gladness.
He had troubles like all other
men. He suffered many hard-

38 COLIGNI.

ships in the army, was often
severely wounded in battle,
and was taken prisoner. He
was unkindly used often by
those whom he believed to be
his friends; and the king,
without any cause, would be
cold to him and find fault
with him.
One thought kept the mind
of Coligni in peace-like a
rock that is firm and still in
the midst of the storm. This

COLIGNI. 39

thought was that he lived for
a higher world than this; that
Jesus would one day reward
him for all his trials here, and
though the King of France
might be unkind, Jesus was
ever true.
Francis de Coligni, the dear
brother of Gaspard, became a
brave and open Protestant.
For this he was put in prison
and cruelly used.
"Pretend to turn to Rome

40 COLIGNI.

again," advised some of his
friends.
"I can never pretend what
is not true," said Francis. "I
will die if need be for the sake
of a pure faith."
At his own home, Coligni,
the rich and great, lived a
plain and simple life, taking
care of his family, helping the
poor, and beginning and end-
ing the day with family pray-
ers. He and his wife were

COLIGNI. 41

very happy. But while safe
and happy himself, Coligni did
not forget the dear Church
which was so persecuted.
I must tell you of three sev-
eral attempts he made to help
the Reformers. He saw that
they were injured and abused
so much in France that they
could not live there, and he
asked the king to allow money
to be raised to take as many
as could go to America, which

42 COLIGNI.

was then a new and wild
country, and to let them live
there in quiet and serve God
in their own way. The king
agreed to this, and he sent
out a large number of French
Protestants, with their prop-
erty; and they came over to
our land and settled on the
coast of Carolina, at a place
they called Fort Charles. They
did not stay very long: they
had bad health; they were

COLIGNI. 43

homesick; they did not get on
well; they pined for the hills
and the valleys and the lovely
land of France, and before
many years they went back,
and this ended Coligni's first
attempt to find his Church an-
other home.
As the sufferings of the Re-
formed people became still
greater, Coligni determined to
send out another colony to
America. He had heard that

44 COLIGNI.

Florida was warm and sunny
like France, and he thought
his friends would be happy
there; so he got ships and
money and sent out all the
Protestants who would go.
He sent pastors with them
and books, and told them they
could set up their Church,
build a town, serve God as
they thought was right, and
by and by become a great
people.

COLIGNI. 45

This colony went to the
mouth of the St. John's river,
in Florida. If you will get
your maps, you can see where
it is, and some day perhaps
you may go there to visit.
The Spaniards then said
they owned Florida, and they
were Roman Catholics. The
cruel priests of France wrote
to them to fight against these
poor lonely Frenchmen, who
were so far away from their

46 COLIGNI.

native home. The Spaniards
were strong, and went and
fought with the French. At
.last they said if the Protest-
ants would give up their arms
--that is, their swords and
guns--they would go away
and let them alone. They
promised this in the most sol-
emn manner, and the poor
colonists believed them and
laid aside all their weapons.
Then the false Spaniards rush-

COLIGNI. 47

ed upon them and brutally
killed nearly every one.
Does it not seem strange
and terrible to think that in
this great, broad land of ours
men were thus cruelly killed,
and not only men, but women
and children, just because
they loved God and would not
bow down to graven images?
Well, dear children, how
can we tell what may hap-
pen? Such days may come

48 COLIGNI.

again. I hope not. If they
do, may all the boys and girls
who are reading these little
books about the Reformers be
honest and brave and true to
their faith. You can never
learn too well this verse, "Be
thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of
life."
As the colonies sent out by
Coligni had met such sad fate
in that part of the country

COLIGNI. 49

which is now the United
States, he made up his mind
to send a church to the region
now called Brazil, in South
America. So much interest
was felt in this colony, and so
much was done toward buying
ships and goods, that in two
years ten thousand French-
men, nearly all of them Prot-
estants, went to Brazil and
began what is now the grand
city of Rio Janeiro. High
4

50 COLIGNI.

were the hopes of God's peo-
ple that these ten thousand
would make Brazil a Protest-
ant country, but again the
priests came and brought sol-
diers and broke this colony
up. Many of the people were
killed, and many more escaped
to France.
We cannot help thinking
what it would have been if
this colony had not been
broken up. Now the people

COLIGNI. 51

of Brazil are mostly poor
and ignorant. They are like
heathen; they pray to saints
and to images, and have a
wooden image all dressed in
gold cloth and jewels which
they call a bambino-that is,
baby, "the baby of the altar
of heaven." To this they pray
and give money and trust to
it, poor bit of wood as it is, to
save their souls. Perhaps you
would like to see a picture of

52 COLIGNI.

the "bambino." You will find
one on page 31.
The dress of this "baby"
has so many jewels on it that
it is worth a million of dollars.
Now, if Coligni's colony had
not been destroyed, all the
children who pray to this
bambino might have been
happy little Protestants like
you.
We have good missionaries
in Brazil now, teaching these

COLIGNI. 53

poor people. Very likely some
of the missionary money which
you give in Sunday-school-I
hope you do not forget to take
it-goes to help the mission-
aries in Brazil.
While Coligni was trying to
take care of the Protestants
and was fighting for France,
and was looked up to by all
the world as a brave soldier
and a good man, he had seen
several French kings reign

54 COLIGNI.

and die; and for years the
wicked Catherine, to whom
he had been kind when she
was young and helpless, had
been queen and the most pow-
erful person in France, and
hated Coligni with all her bad
heart.
But Coligni had seen other
than kings die. That dear
brother Francis, whom he call-
ed his "right hand," who was
a loving brother, a brave sol-

COLIGNI. 55

dier and a true Protestant,
died at Saintes very suddenly.
It is thought that he was poi-
soned by the priests. Coligni
wrote to his children, "The
loss of my dear brother breaks
my heart, but God's will be
done. May I die no less pi-
ously and gladly than I saw
him do! Let his virtues shine
in you. Study that you may
be wise, and when you play be
careful and do nothing that

56 COLIGNI.

will offend God and lead you
from him."
Odet Coligni, the eldest of
the three brothers, also be-
came a Protestant. You know
he had been a Catholic priest
and a cardinal. He gave up
riches and honor and power to
be a true servant of God. The
cardinal was then persecuted
as his brothers were. A great
man of those days said, "These
good Colignis will be hunted

COLIGNI. 57

to death. The priests are like
hounds, pursuing them."
Odet fled to England, where
Queen Elizabeth received him
kindly and where he lived
some time, helping the Re-
formers and taking care of
them. At last the priests
bribed a young manservant to
poison Odet. The man gave
him an apple to eat in which
apple he had put poison. Poor
Odet fell dead just before he

58 COLIGNI.

was going to bid Queen Eliza-
beth "Good-bye" and go over
to France to help the Church
against the priests.
Poor Gaspard Coligni's heart
was "broken" again, for, as
said his friends, "these three
brothers seemed to have but
one soul, so well they loved!"
You remember I told you
that Louisa, the mother of
these brothers, had died pray-
ing and believing that God

COLIGNI. 59

would bring her sons to the
true faith in Jesus Christ.
You see she was not disap-
pointed, for now already two
of them had died for that
faith; and, as my story is now
closing, you will learn how
Gaspard, who was highest and
best of all, and for this cause
the most hated, was made a
martyr of the Reformed Church.
They won the crowns of life
laid up in heaven.

60 COLIGNI.

Gaspard Coligni and many
more died on a fatal day,
which will never be forgotten
-the day of St. Bartholomew.
On that day-St. Bartholo-
mew, Sunday-nearly all the
chief men of the Reformed
Church were in Paris, where
the king had called them, pre-
tending it was to make friends
with them and have them at a
wedding. Coligni was there
with the rest.

COLIGNI. 61

The real motive of the king
was to have the Protestants
together, unarmed, and then
in the night have his soldiers
fall upon them and kill them.
He was urged to do this by
Queen Catherine, his wicked
mother, and the priests.
Three or four days before
this a bad man had shot at
Coligni in the street and
wounded him so that he was
ill in his bed. His friends

62 COLIGNI.

and his servants -were about
him at his hotel. When the
murders began all over the
city, soldiers were put about
Coligni's house so that none
could get away. Gaspard and
his friends went to prayer,
and prayed all through the
night that God would fit them
for death. Toward morning
there was a wild attack on the
hotel.
Sir," said a pious friend

COLIGNI. 63

to Coligni, "it is thus that
God is calling us to himself."
A man named Behm rushed
up to Coligni's bed, followed
by the king's troops, crying,
"Are you the admiral ?"
"I am," replied Coligni;
"but do you not respect gray
hairs ? But what matters it?
-I go to God !"
Behm began to curse and
swear, and drove a dagger
into the heart of Gaspard Co-

64 COLIGNI.

ligni, the bravest and greatest
man in France!
Queen Catherine had Colig-
ni's body dragged through the
mud, and his head cut off and
sent in a box to the pope.
But what mattered this ill-
treatment of his dead body?
Gaspard's soul was with God;
and at the last day God will
raise that body up to live with
him in glory.